The Dark Knight Rises: Tom Hardy hadn’t heard of Batman villain Bane

Tom Hardy has admitted that he hadn’t heard of Batman villain Bane before he took the role.

Tom Hardy claims he had never heard of Bane before he took the role (Picture: Bigpicturephotos.com)

The 34-year-old star said that wasn’t familiar with the genetically enhanced super baddie who is famous for breaking Batman’s back in the comic books.

He told Empire: ‘I’m fairly incubated.’

His co-star Christian Bale , who stars as the Caped Crusader for the third time in a row in The Dark Knight Rises, also revealed that he didn’t know who Bane was but trusted in director Christopher Nolan not to make a ‘poor decision’ about who would be the villain.

The Welsh actor said: ‘I wasn’t familiar with Bane. Although I vaguely remembered just a crazy ‘roid-looking guy with a mask.’

Bale said that he had been told by friends about the character after they had seen him in the box office flop Batman & Robin.

In the 1997 film George Clooney played Batman while Jeep Swenson appeared as Bane.

‘I remember him less on screen, and people telling me that – and wincing,’ Bale added.

‘I just trust and have faith in Chris. I knew he wasn’t gonna mess around with making a poor decision on who the bloody villain was!’